OPUS Mag

Sep 30 Kanye West - Saint Pablo Tour Review

First things first, let’s establish the fact that I am far from a Kanye stan. Everybody who knows me knows that I’m actually the polar opposite of that; I’m sick of the whole hype beast movement, the Yeezy’s, and the Adidas, and all that, but that’s a story for another time.

Last night, Kanye came out to Detroit and performed at Joe Louis Arena, and it was a damn good time. It had its ups and its downs, but it was pretty solid overall.

He opened up with Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1, and we were off to the races from there. Despite it being the Saint Pablo Tour, there was a healthy mix of his classics in there alongside his newer stuff. But we’re not going sit here and just talk about his set-list, that’s already out there and wouldn’t really be anything new.

Kanye seems to fancy himself a genius, and it’s kind of weird because he’s very aware of his genius. His “genius” definitely paid off with the floating stage concept he’s been using this tour. It’s interesting conceptually, and in reality; in a sense it puts him above the crowd, almost like a Saint would be when looking down on his followers. In actuality it’s also pretty cool because if you couldn’t get floor/GA seats, you still got a pretty damn good view of him. The only complaints, and they’re merited, that I have heard has been that it can be hard to see him from the floor at times, as well as it can be hard to keep up with his moving platform if you’re in the GA section and are trying to stay close to the action. The lighting of the platform could have also been a bit better, as it was rather dull at times and hard to keep up with.

At the risk of sounding like a certain “social influencer,” what really made the night was the vibes. There was just this certain aura cast over the whole night that is almost indescribable. The crowd was just really chill and really happy to be there, and Kanye made everybody feel like he wanted them to have a good time. Kanye also knew what we were there for, right down to performing I Love Kanye, and he put on a helluva show.

That’s not to say that he didn’t have his share of misses, and they were reasonably irritating. For starters, the show was supposed to start at 8PM, but he didn’t get on until 9:30ish. Normally I wouldn’t care, because who even expects the headliner to get on stage at the beginning of the show – except Kanye wasn’t just the headliner, he was the opening and closing act too. My other beef with Kanye, and maybe I’m misdirecting this by aiming it at the G.O.O.D Music don, was that he came to DETROIT and BIG SEAN was in attendance, but we still didn’t get to see a Big Sean performance. Maybe it’s asking too much to say that he should have had Big Sean open up for him, but he could’ve even just had some of Detroit’s hot young artists keep us entertained while we waited for Kanye to take the stage.

Altogether, the music was tremendous, the performance was great, the vibes were bigly, and the whole night was a solid experience. Even the typical Kanye rant that we got halfway through the show was nice, because it really gives you confidence in yourself just being in the presence of somebody that thinks as highly of themselves as Kanye does.

To my Detroit friends, you can still catch him October 6th at the Palace, which is bound to be a great show! To everybody else, here is the link to all his tour dates, and if he hasn’t come to your city yet, definitely check it out!

My brother once told me, “Don’t ever let anyone ever tell you what your truth is. The truth in art is all we have.” Ever since that day, I’ve been committed to writing what I feel, and sharing it with others. My struggles aren’t all unique, and somebody had to be the voice of the voiceless.

My brother once told me, “Don’t ever let anyone ever tell you what your truth is. The truth in art is all we have.” Ever since that day, I’ve been committed to writing what I feel, and sharing it with others. My struggles aren’t all unique, and somebody had to be the voice of the voiceless.

Coeur Noir is an autofiction novel written by Al Patron. The title is Haitian Creole for black heart or heart of black, in reference to the traits of the main protagonist, Nikolas Daniel...who may or may not be based on Al Patron himself. A coming of age novel Coeur Noir will evoke emotional reactions ranging from but not limited to crying & laughter, all while detailing a path to greatness for Al Pa...pardon...Nikolas Daniel.